Of Thieves And Do Gooders

I entered the house at a leisurely pace, actually, I might have been dragging my feet a little bit, but if anyone asked me, I would deny it. It took me a moment to decide where exactly in the house I wanted to go, but with an insistent rumbling in my stomach, my mind blanked out and I turned into a zombie, making a beeline for the kitchen without hardly realizing it.

Next thing I knew I was in front of the open refrigerator, dragging a plastic bag of grapes out into the open. I plucked a grape free of the vine and put it tentatively in my mouth and kicked the fridge door closed. I chewed slowly, sort of spacing out as I hopped up on the empty tile counter and sat with my feet dangling over the side. I popped another grape into my mouth and the flavor registered this time and I plucked a few more grapes free of the bag and stuffed them into my mouth. God, was I hungry.

“Enjoying yourself?” A male voice interrupted and I paused mid-chew, stiffening visibly.

Jack Crawford was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest with his eyebrows raised in my direction. “I was,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders and swallowed the grapes my teeth had demolished.

“Don’t let me interrupt, by all means, eat every grape in the bag, Hayden hates them anyway,” Jack said simply and moved into the kitchen more and sat on the counter across from me.

“Sorry, I’m not used to eating with an audience,” I said with a snort, completely dismissing his mention of Hayden. He could choke on a grape for all I cared.

“I see you’re doing all right,” Jack pointed out contentedly, ignoring my last comment as he eyed me speculatively.

“Yeah, got all my fingers and toes,” I replied, wiggling my fingers momentarily through the air before letting them fall onto the countertop again.

“Good to hear,” Jack stared dutifully at me and I forced myself to look down at the countertop. Why the hell was he staring at me? “You seem…quiet,” he commented absently, and I looked up at his words.

“Yeah? Sorry, not exactly in a talking mood, you know, almost dying kinda puts you in that sorta mood,” I said tartly, my mind drifting randomly back to Hayden. Talking to Jack wasn’t any better than talking to Hayden, because when I looked at Jack I saw Hayden, just the little things, and when he spoke, I noticed the parts of his personality that Hayden had absorbed.

“I suppose,” was his only reply.

“You ‘suppose’?” I asked with a slight, humorless chuckle.

Jack smirked at me when I looked up at him. “From what I hear, you and Hayden are fighting again,” he spoke knowledgeably.

At that instant I felt a wall go up between us, one that set me on edge and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I wanted to ask how he knew that, but at the same time I knew he could have found out in a few ways. He could have asked Hayden what happened, could have talked to Leon, could have heard it himself--since we weren’t exactly “whispering” in there--or maybe he had some sort of informant. I honestly had no idea. Instead I came up with a different reply, “Must have good hearing then for an old man.”

Jack puffed out his chest at that comment, but still appeared amiable at the same time. “I’m still young,” he said defiantly and I had to giggle at his tone, it was so childish.

“What are you? Thirty? Thirty-five? Sorry to break it to you Bud but that isn’t exactly ‘young’,” I mocked and kicked my feet absently against the cupboard beneath me.

“Thirty-six,” Jack replied, still defensive. He turned the subject back around however, in the blink of an eye when he asked, “What were you two fighting about this time? You plan on leaving again?”

I stiffened at the accusation. “No,” was my reply.

“Good, because I’ve made arrangements for you to attend Shadowstep Academy,” Jack stated simply and grinned at my stunned expression and then added, “again, that is.”

“Wha--I mean…How…?” I couldn’t form a coherent response.

“I’ve some merit with the Headmaster, he values my suggestions and I value his knowledge. And I’ll have you know that I rarely make suggestions regarding students, so, don’t prove me wrong.” Jack hopped down off of the counter and stood in front of me, looking up into my widened eyes. How was I going to respond to that? “If you weren’t planning on leaving, what were you fighting about? Did he offend you? I think he does that easily when it comes to women…” he trailed off thoughtfully.

“Thank you,” I muttered, finally finding my voice again.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Yes, well, it was at Hayden’s request, and besides, you weren’t learning much here were you? I didn’t expect to be so busy when you arrived,” he said with a shrug.

“And Hayden didn’t offend me, I overreacted. Don’t worry about it,” I answered his other question, taking a stab at nonchalance.

Apparently, I failed, because Jack Crawford rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, tugging me off of the counter. I hopped down, allowing him to move me, and watched him carefully--suddenly he cared if I sat where he set his food down? What had happened to change his mind in the last twenty seconds? “Come on, let’s go to an amusement park, or, or, a skate park, the movies? Where do you young people like to hang out these days?” he asked, now pulling me out of the kitchen.

Pfft, he wanted to take me somewhere fun? Besides, I didn’t want to tell him that for a kid my age, I didn’t exactly go to all the “fun” places. My brother’s grave was my only real “hot spot”. I laughed out loud at his suggestions and he paused to turn and look at me. “What?” he asked, sounding offended.

I giggled a little more and replied, “Stop trying to be cute and spontaneous, as an old guy you just look like a creeper.”

Jack Crawford raised his eyebrows in a way that said “I try to do something nice and this is what you do?”

“I’m sorry!” I said with another giggle. “I’m not in an ‘amusement park’ mood anyway, and besides I get real nasty motion sickness.”

Jack Crawford rolled his eyes. “Fine, a walk in the park? Do you want me to a buy you a puppy or something? What would cheer you up?” he asked, almost sounding desperate. I could tell he hadn’t had a daughter or been around anything similar to a little girl, so he had no idea how to cheer a girl up. How funny…well to me anyway.

“Thanks for your concern, but I don’t need to be cheered up. I’m fine, really.”

Jack Crawford frowned doubtfully. “Somehow, I don’t think I believe you,” he commented.

“You haven’t had a daughter, so I guess you don’t know how to cheer up a girl do you?” I asked a little distractedly, trying to throw him off my trail. “If I happened to need cheering up because of a boy, more often then not, I would like to talk to another girl not another guy. Sorry to be sexist, but the girl talk is called ‘girl talk’ for a reason.” I smiled a little wistfully, but the smile faded when I saw Jack’s expression change dramatically from determined father figure to…something else I couldn’t place.

“You’re wrong,” Jack replied quietly and took several steps away from me, frowning in a lost sort of way.

“Sorry?” I asked with a frown. I had a feeling I had evoked some sort of sore spot and immediately regretted it.

“I said you’re wrong. I did have a daughter.” He cocked his head to one side, pulling his eyes away from the floor and asked in a voice that could only be classified as dead. “Didn’t Hayden tell you? Or Damion or Leon, maybe?”

A cold chill ran down my spine and I shook my head slowly from side to side. No, no, no, I didn’t want to hear about this. My mouth went dry as cotton and I couldn’t seem to find a reply, I was just staring at Jack Crawford like a moron.

“I guess I understand why Hayden wouldn’t, but…” he trailed off, looking at the floor once more.

“Y-you have--had a daughter…?” I asked carefully, not really wanting to know the answer. “Which means that Hayden had a…?” I couldn’t finish the end of my sentence. I wondered why Hayden wouldn’t have told me something as important as that. Of course, maybe, it was for the same reasons that I didn’t tell him about Raymond, dead siblings were strictly off limits in my book. Then again, maybe there was another reason, maybe Hayden didn’t actually know his sister very well when she died--wait I was assuming, she was dead, wasn’t she? Why else would Jack seem so…suddenly depressed?

“Yes, I suppose I could tell you, since--”

“No, no, no! That’s alright, I don’t need to know…really,” I said almost desperately, taking a few unconscious steps away from Jack Crawford.

He raised an eyebrow but refrained from questioning my decision, instead he simply said, “If you’re sure.”

“I am,” I replied, twisting the hem of my shirt in a death grip. I might want to hear about it one day, but not then, not at that exact moment. I would just keep that in mind: I wasn’t the only one who had lost a sibling. Hayden had a sister, that was something that I would log away. “So, when am I starting at Shadowstep Academy again?” I asked, just to change the subject.

“Once Christmas break is over,” Jack said thoughtfully and added, “I’m sending you back with Hayden, he’ll be your escort, more or less. Oh, and I’ve arranged for your living arrangements to be the same as when you left.”

I honestly didn’t need Hayden to escort me to the school. If he tried to escort me, I would trip him and run into the school alone, no matter how childish it looked…Wait, what was that he had said about living arrangements? “Wait, what was that last part?” I asked, wondering if I had heard him wrong.

“Hmm? You mean the living arrangements?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Well, I’ve convinced the Headmaster that Hayden is really the only person you know, so it’s fitting that you might share a room so that if you have any questions you’re not only in the same wing but the same room,” Jack smiled looking quite proud of himself. Sadist.

“Goody,” I muttered, twirling my finger unenthusiastically through the air.

“I’ll ignore your sarcasm, you’re angry with him now, your judgment is clouded,” Jack dismissed with a wave of his hand. Suddenly he perked up. “Oh, I have a great idea, why don’t you open your Christmas present early? That ought to cheer you up right?” he asked, looking as if he had just had the greatest idea in the history of mankind.

The hopeful look on his face made it virtually impossible for me to deny his “brilliant” idea. Screw tradition, I needed happiness, stat. Even if it was excited I’m-a-little-kid-tearing-wrapping-paper-to-shreds-like-it-killed-my-dog-to-get-to-my-present happiness. Who didn’t like a little nostalgia? “Alright, great idea,” I said with a smile and followed Jack into the living room.

Miraculously, all of the presents had been stuffed under the tree, even the ones that I had hidden in Hayden’s closet. Yes, I hid every single one of his presents in his very own closet, I figured hide it right where he could find it and he wouldn’t look there. I know, I know, I’m a genius. Aside from the presents I had wrapped for Hayden, Damion’s gifts and Leon’s were also piled under the tree, along with several other colorful boxes that I didn’t recognize. A new excitement was lit inside of me and I instantly wanted to shred every single bit of wrapping paper in front of me so I could hold all my new possessions…

…

Okay, that sounded incredibly materialistic.

Jack Crawford marched straight up to the tree, glanced around the presents for a moment and then reached down and supplied himself with a small box wrapped in white with a pine tree design printed over it. He held it out to me and said, “Here’s the one from me, the rest, I guess you’ll have to wait.”

I took the gift with a smile and refrained from opening it long enough to ask, “How the hell’d you find all the ones I hid?”

Jack shrugged, “I had the staff do a thorough sweep of places where you might hide gifts. So they found all of them?”

“Pfft, yeah,” I grumbled and stalked over to the couch and flopped down, crossing my legs beneath me. Apparently I needed to work on my present-hiding skills. Next time I’ll just dig a hole and bury them in the backyard like buried treasure…Scratch that, too piratey…is that a word? I don’t think it is.

Note: Make own dictionary, add “piratey”. Piratey: to be pirate-like or resemble a pirate.

Carefully, I plucked the bow off of the top of the present and set it aside--I didn’t want to completely destroy it, just the bothersome wrapping paper. Once that was done, I ripped the concealing paper away to reveal a medium sized, completely white shoe box. With a scowl, I flipped off the lid and peered inside of the box. I glanced up at Jack with an annoyed glare on my face before I said, “What the hell?” I reached into the box and lifted out a significantly smaller version of the shoe box. A box within a box…cute.

Jack Crawford just shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I like the suspenseful atmosphere.”

“Right,” I said with a chuckle and flipped the lid off of the smaller box, revealing a single silver key sitting elegantly on the bottom of the box. I stared at it for a long moment and then plucked the key from it’s sitting place, holding it up into the light. “Is this the key to the house or something?” I queried with a nervous chuckle.

Jack just smiled, a strange little twinkle in his eyes. “Not quite. But if you go outside I think you might find out what it goes to,” he spoke nonchalantly, as if he were truly oblivious to what the key belonged to. Sneaky old bastard.

I couldn’t help it, I leapt to my feet and somehow kept myself from sprinting and instead proceeded at a fast walk toward the front door. I whipped the front door open and peered from left to right, my eyes scraping across the landscape--what was I going to find out here that needed a key?

“Around the right side,” Jack directed helpfully from behind me.

Damn it wasn’t out in the open. I obeyed his instructions and rounded the right side of the house and peered at the stretch of land. A grin exploded on my face when I caught sight of a vehicle, sleek, black, and very, very shiny. An ‘08 Kawasaki Ninja sat just out of my reach by ten to fifteen feet.

“A…a…a…a…” I muttered, dumbstruck by the very sight of the speed bike.

“Ninja?” Jack offered obligingly, chuckling slightly at my reaction.

“A Ninja,” I emphasized and took a few bumbling steps toward the wonderful gift. “It’s really mine?” I asked, eyeing the key in my hand as if it were a ruse.

“Really,” he confirmed, “I thought it seemed your style. But I wasn’t sure whether or not you’ve ridden a motorcycle before,” Jack said thoughtfully, urging me forward and walking with me to stand by the Kawasaki. “Regardless, I’ll show you how to if you need me to,” Jack offered with a smile.

“You sure you have the time?” I mocked and slid my hand over the handlebars, identifying the throttle and the clutch, as well as the brake on the left handlebar, not to mention the button that I could hit to kill the engine.

Jack rolled his eyes. “I’ll make the time, I don’t want you killing yourself trying to figure out how to ride a gift that I gave you,” he retorted. Then he mused aloud, “Maybe I should have started you out with something smaller…like a one-fifty…”

“No, no! I was just kidding, I’ve ridden a dirt bike before, this is virtually the same right?” I asked quickly. “See you got the clutch and the brake, what else is there to know?”

“How about gear switching?” Jack inquired with a raised brow.

“Oh, yeah, that too.”

“Stick with the yard until you’re comfortable with it,” Jack ordered, firmly enough that I knew I wasn’t supposed to disobey. Damn, he used the “father” tone.

“Right, right, I got it,” I agreed with a crazy sort of grin on my face. I had a street bike, I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to go tearing up streets riding it, you know, hence the name. It really would take me awhile to get accustomed to the bike though, of course, not that long if I was going to ride it nonstop every day, I would pick up the feel for it in no time.

Uh-oh. A cold chill ran down my spine. It was the dreaded moment. The time for…for…

…Saying “thank you”…

And it was the worst type of thank you I had to say. I had to say it to a guy I sort of knew as a father figure, but not well enough to give him a crazy hug in which I chant “thank you” too fast to really decipher. Nor could I just nod at him and say “thanks”, that was not only manly, but meant for crap gifts, like a sweater or something. What a predicament.

I turned toward Jack and grinned, opened my mouth to say it, and hesitated. I frowned suddenly. It would come out. Just those two easy words “thank” and “you”, put them together and they meant something. But my mouth wasn’t forming the words easily.

Jack Crawford looked right at me, an unreadable look in his eyes, and he laughed at me. “You’re welcome Raven,” he stated simply and touched my shoulder lightly, shaking his head ever so slightly as he continued to chuckle.

Oh, what the hell?

I sucked up my pride and stuffed it in the smallest corner of my body, threw my arms wide and then moved forward and converged them upon Jack in a fierce hug. He returned the pressure immediately and I could still feel his chest vibrating as he continued to chuckle. Maybe I couldn’t say thank you, but at least he would know that I was thankful, right? That better have been what he was getting out of my hug, because my hugs are carefully placed and rarely seen. It was an honor for him, damn it.

“Don’t lose the key,” Jack advised and released me at the same time that I untangled my arms from around him.

“Of course not,” I scoffed, “what sort of speed bike owner do you take me for?”

Jack rose an eyebrow at me as we rounded the corner of the house again. “A new one?” he suggested and chuckled when I glared at him. What a corny joke.

Regardless of that fact, we both strolled back into the house, but Jack paused at the entrance of the living room. Looking contemplative, he said to me, “You know Raven…if you want me to, I could talk to Hayden for you about, well, what ever it is that you’re fighting about.” He looked incredibly uncomfortable at his offer.

I laughed and he looked at me, startled. “Don’t worry about it Jack, I can do my own talking. Really. I don’t want you to be sucked back into the drama of teenagers anyway,” I spoke confidently, and plastered a sweet smile on my face.

“You’re a cheeky little thief you know that?” Jack asked me blandly, already knowing the answer, it seemed.

“Thanks, I take that to heart, really,” I replied good-naturedly.

“Will you go talk to him now?” Jack wondered aloud, sounding pensive once again.

I hesitated. I didn’t really want to. But if I was basing it on whether or not I wanted to do it, it would never get done. Better now than never…I guess. “Sure, I guess,” I replied with a heavy sigh, portraying my reluctance quite well.

Jack patted my arm affectionately and smiled warmly in my direction. “I know you’ll sort it out. You’re a clever girl,” he stated knowingly and then turned and left the room, humming a tune that I didn’t recognize.

I took a deep breath and watched him go. I wasn’t so sure he was right about that. Sorting things out wasn’t exactly my specialty.